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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24230521">Broken Hearts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgles123/pseuds/Higgles123'>Higgles123</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Take (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:47:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,417</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24230521</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgles123/pseuds/Higgles123</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Freddie Jackson gets out of prison again and the first person he comes to visit is you</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Freddie Jackson/Reader, Freddie Jackson/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Broken Hearts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">Freddie approached the front door of the small two up- two down house he would be able to find in his sleep. Lifting the lavender filled plant pot beside the door, he grinned to himself when the silver key was waiting just as it always had been. The front door creaked when he pushed it open gently and his nose was assaulted by the scent of citrus bleach, and he knew if he was to go into the kitchen he would find streaks along the worktops where you had wiped them down before bed. Toeing off his trainers, he crept up the stairs, careful to mind the third one from the top because he was certain you hadn’t got the squeaky floorboard fixed in the time he had been gone. He navigated the darkened hallway with a familiar ease until he reached your bedroom, and he allowed himself a few moments to just stand in the doorway and watch as you slept peacefully.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">Nineteen months. He had dreamt of seeing your face for the last nineteen months while he had been stuck inside that shit hole for dealing a bit of weed. Well, that was all they caught him for anyway. Walking towards the bed, he leaned over you and breathed in the smell of your coconut shampoo. You smelt fucking heavenly. Then again, you could have smelt like anything and it would have been heavenly compared to the scent of stale piss and sweat that he had been forced to endure for the past year and a half. Your nose was scrunched up in your sleep and he couldn’t help himself. He reached down to tickle it and it twitched, reminding him of the pet rabbit he’d had when he was six. Not that he’d had it for very long because his old man soon got rid of it, and then gave him a right good smack in the face for crying like a little girl about it.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“Y/N,” he cooed quietly, blowing gently on your face.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">Your eyelids fluttered as you attempted to open them, but the second you realised there was an intruder in your bedroom you sat up and punched the assailant square in the jaw.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“Well fuckin’ hell, nice to see you too, babe.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“Freddie!” you gasped, standing up on your knees and reaching for his face. “What the fuck are you doing?”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“Got outta the nick a few hours ago, didn’t I?” he grinned, grinding his jaw in an attempt to dull the pain in it. You didn’t half hit him good and proper; but he was proud because he was the one who had taught you how to do it. “Thought I’d come by and see my favourite girl.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“You could have used the doorbell like a normal fucking person,” you tutted, wrapping your arms around him and pulling him close for a hug. “I’ve missed you, Freddie.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“Missed you too, babe. And look at this sexy little getup,” he answered, pulling back and grinning at you. “Never knew grown women enjoyed wearin’ nighties with Disney characters on.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“Yeah well, you should know by now that I’m still that little kid what used to make you pretend to act out the old movies with me.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“I did make the best Prince Charmin’ though, didn’t I?” he smirked.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“Hmm,” you smirked back. “You only wanted to be Prince Charming cos you thought you’d get a kiss out of it. Even as a kid you were a horny little bastard.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“I tell you, after nineteen months with only my right hand and a sock for company, I’m even hornier now.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“Well maybe you should go home to Jackie and she can sort you out?”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">Freddie could see in your face that you regretted the words as soon as you said them, but they were out now, floating around creating a wall between you both. Freddie flopped down onto the bed with a huff, closing his eyes and trying to forget that he had a wife and two small kids waiting back at his crummy council flat across the other side of town. Not that Jackie even knew he was out of prison yet because he had made a point not to tell her. Nah, he couldn’t be doing with that. She was a pain in his fucking arse; always screeching and nagging and moaning at him. The truth was that he had been saddled with Jackie Summers at the tender age of eighteen because he couldn’t keep his cock in his trousers. He fucked her one time too many and got her up the duff, and his old man and hers had forced the two of them to get married. The truth was that he never had and never would love his wife and spent as much time away from her as fucking possible. She clung to him like tar and tried everything to keep him close, but the funny thing was that her desperation only succeeded in making her disgust him more and more. Sure, old Jackie was good for a fuck and she definitely knew how to suck him off just how he liked, but he didn’t actively seek her out for those things. He just sort of used them as a thing to make spending anytime at home slightly more bearable. Even his two girls, who were the sweetest little things, weren’t enough to make him stick around because he loathed their mother so fucking much. And the truth was that he loved the idea of being a father far more than actually being one. In his head, taking them on spontaneous days out every now and them, and tucking them up in bed once or twice a month more then made up for the fact that he spent most of his time out chasing girls and doing drugs. He never ever hit them like his old man did to him and that made him the best father there was, right?</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“I’m sorry, Freddie,” you rested on your elbow to lean over him.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“No, I’m sorry,” he muttered, opening his eyes to look at you. This was your Freddie, the man caressing your face tenderly without that usual arrogant air encompassing him. That was the Freddie Jackson everyone else knew, but not you. “I’m sorry that I never told you what I felt for you until it was too late.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“Freddie,” you sighed, placing one of your hands over his and closing your eyes to keep at bay the tears that were bubbling to the surface.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">Freddie swallowed. He didn’t do regrets; not even when it came to Jackie. He hated her but he couldn’t regret his two girls. But you were, and always would be, the one thing he regretted. He knew that deep down he had always loved you in his own way. At first it had been that almost sibling-like love from having grown up with you. His mother and yours were best friends and had given birth to the pair of you only months apart. Then one day when he was around fourteen, he remembered looking at you and something felt different. He suddenly found himself noticing the way the light caught your hair when the two of you were sat in the playground, smoking cigarettes you’d stolen from your mum’s handbag; or the way your eyes sparkled when you smiled. But he never said anything. Even then he knew he wasn’t good enough for someone like you. You might have lived only a few streets away and gone to the same school and had the same opportunities, but you were different. Your parents were always so in love and happiness and that happiness bubbled down on to you. You were always smiling and happy, trying hard in school and getting good grades, while Freddie barely even bothered showing up. Why would he? If his old man wasn’t smacking Freddie and his mum about then he was always telling his son what a waste of space he was. It turned out that the words stuck and Freddie began to see himself through his father’s eyes. Why bother with school and learning? Nah, he got in with some older lads and let himself be led down the dark hole of sex and drugs and alcohol. You never turned your nose up at him. Sometimes, you’d cry and tell him that he could do better for himself, but then you’d hug him and tell him that no matter what you would always be his friend and always be there no matter what. And you would never know, even now, how much that meant to a man as broken as Freddie Jackson.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">He remembered the day he told you how he felt about you. Ironically it was his wedding night. Jackie, his teenage bride, was passed out cold in bed; her pregnant stomach swollen and stretched, filling a young man like him with disgust. You hadn’t been at the wedding. He remembered looking for you when he was waiting at the registry office. He’d seen your parents appear and waited to see you following behind with that smile he loved, but you hadn’t come. Your mother said you were ill, but you could see the lie in her eyes. Climbing up the drainpipe, just as he’d done so many times, he tapped on your bedroom window and waited.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>You’d be crying. He could tell because your eyes were all red and puffy.</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“What are you doing here, Freddie?” you asked, your voice hoarse. “Shouldn’t you be with your wife?”</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“Why have you been cryin’?” he ignored your question.</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“I haven’t.”</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“Bullshit,” he scoffed. “Your mum said the reason you never came today was cos you’re sick. So what’s wrong?”</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“I’ve just had a bad stomach,” you answered, unable to meet his eyes.</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“Ha, bullshit again,” he tutted. “Cos your mum told me you had a migraine.”</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“Well, if you knew then why did you ask?”</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“Because I wanna…” he shouted and then remembered your parents were asleep in the next room. He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. “… I wanna know why you’re lyin’ to me, Y/N.”</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“I’m not,” you whispered, as a tear slid down your cheek.</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“You are,” Freddie grabbed your face. “You’re supposed to be my best mate and you didn’t even come to my fuckin’ weddin’. You knew how hard it was for me havin’ to marry that fuckin’ cunt and you weren’t there. Remember when you promised to always be there for me? Well, you lied, didn’t you? Right when I needed you the most, you weren’t fuckin’ there.”</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“I couldn’t, Freddie,” you looked at him finally, your bottom lip wobbling as his blue green eyes devoured you whole. “I couldn’t sit there and watch you marry Jackie when I wish it was me instead.”</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“You what?” he frowned, and you could have laughed had your heart not been breaking into a thousand pieces, because for the first time in your young life, Freddie Jackson was lost for words.</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>“I love you, Freddie,” you closed your eyes and let the tears fall. “I know we’re just fucking kids but I love you.”</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1"><em>Freddie blinked. He just stared at you for a long while, wondering if this was all some sort of bad dream. You loved him. </em>You<em> loved a fucking monster like </em>him<em>. And he was a monster, even at just turned eighteen. But you loved him. He laughed, a maniacal chuckle that didn’t echo the hurt in his chest. You looked at him bewildered and he just continued to laugh louder and louder; not giving a fuck if he woke up your parents, not giving a fuck about anything.</em></span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">
    <em>You loved him. And he was now married to another woman.</em>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p3"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">Even now, he could still see the anguish in your eyes as though it was yesterday. Perhaps it was because he could still feel it in his heart. Not that anyone would believe Freddie Jackson had a heart. But he did. It belonged to you and it always would.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“I love you, Y/N,” he murmured, lifting his head to press his lips against yours.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“Don’t Freddie,” you pulled back. “Don’t do this.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“I can’t help it,” he whispered. “While I was inside, all I thought about was you. I imagined what our life would have been like if I hadn’t have got Jackie up the duff and married her. I imagined what our own kids would have looked like and what our life would be. I would have got myself straight for you, I swear it.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“I know you would,” you bit your lip as it trembled. “But there’s no point in thinking about what could have beens. You’re married to Jackie and you’ve got two beautiful little girls who need their Dad.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“Yeah but <em>I </em>need <em>you</em>,” Freddie clenched his jaw as that familiar pain overwhelmed him.</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">“And you’ve got me, Freddie,” you promised him vehemently. “Not in the way you want; fuck, not even in the way <em>I</em> want, but you’ve got me. You’ll always have me.”</span>
</p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p2"> </p>
<p class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619p1">
  <span class="yiv0825427204ydpf8b0e619s1">You leaned down and kissed him softly before pulling away to lie down beside him. He pulled you close against him and he let you cry. This was how it always went. No matter how much you wanted to give him more, you never did. He already had your heart but to give him your body would just hurt even more. You would cry and he would hold you and at some point in the early hours of the morning, he would kiss your head and leave. He’d go home to Jackie and his kids, and in a day or two you’d come round and act like your heart wasn’t breaking to see him. The girls would jump up excitedly to see you and thank you for the magazines and sweets you brought for them, and show Freddie who would grin and say they were lucky to have a godmother like you. Even Jackie would crack a smile because she knew that while you were around, Freddie wouldn’t be down at the pub looking for a quick fuck and a line of coke. While you were around, Jackie could pretend they were the perfect little family. While you were around, <em>Freddie</em> could try and pretend they were the perfect little family. But the second you walked out that door, you took his heart with you. Every single time.</span>
</p>
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